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Simona Halep sets up Amanda Anisimova rematch at Roland Garros

Roar Guru
1st October, 2020
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Roar Guru
1st October, 2020
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The last time Simona Halep attempted to defend a Major title, she ended up on the wrong end of a massive upset at the hands of American teen sensation Amanda Anisimova.

The then-17-year-old Anisimova played the match of her life to upset Halep in the quarter-finals last year, eventually progressing to her first Major semi-final where she fell short of another upset when she lost to the eventual champion, Ashleigh Barty, in three sets.

In reaching the last four of the French Open last year, Anisimova became the first player born this century to reach the semi-finals of a Major, and it was then that many were talking her up as “the next Maria Sharapova”.

Sixteen months on, Halep will get her chance to avenge that defeat when she comes up against the American at Roland Garros for the second consecutive year, two rounds earlier than last year’s contest.

The 2018 champion and title favourite defeated compatriot Irina-Camelia Begu in straight sets to set up what has been a highly-anticipated rematch against Anisimova, who needed less than an hour to oust compatriot Bernarda Pera in straight sets.

After dropping her first service game, the now-19-year-old won 12 of the final 13 games, including the final eight games consecutively.

That match had been moved onto Court Philippe Chatrier after Serena Williams withdrew from the tournament prior to her second round engagement with Tsvetana Pironkova, due to an Achilles injury.

It means her chase for a record-equaling 24th Major singles title will continue into next year’s Australian Open, and it is unlikely the American, who will be 40 by this time next year, will play again for the rest of this year.

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Also through to the third round in the women’s draw were Canadian wildcard Eugenie Bouchard, third seed Elina Svitolina and fifth seed Kiki Bertens.

Bouchard came from a set down to oust Australian Daria Gavrilova, reaching the third round at a Major for the first time since 2017, while Bertens survived a marathon match against 2012 finalist Sara Errani, claiming the first set in a tiebreak and then claiming the final set 9-7.

But tenth seed and recent US Open finalist Victoria Azarenka was not so lucky, going down in straight sets to Slovak Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, who had been struggling with injuries in recent years and hadn’t won a Grand Slam main draw match for so long.

In the men’s draw, 12-time champion Rafael Nadal continued to bulldoze his way through the early rounds, thrashing American Mackenzie McDonald in straight sets, dropping just four games.

Rafael Nadal receives a serve

(Photo by Kelly Defina/Getty Images)

With all the seeds in his section of the draw gone, the earliest the Spaniard could face a seed will be in the quarter-finals, with sixth seed Alexander Zverev the second-highest seed remaining in this quarter of the draw.

Zverev survived a five-set marathon against Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert to advance to a third-round showdown against 2018 semi-finalist Marco Cecchinato, who had ousted Australian 21st seed Alex de Minaur in the first round.

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2015 champion Stan Wawrinka overcame a third-set blip to defeat German Dominik Koepfer in four sets, thus edging closer to a possible fourth-round showdown against reigning US Open champion Dominic Thiem, who defeated American Jack Sock in straight sets.

Overnight, second seed Karolina Pliskova’s recent Grand Slam woes continued when she was beaten in straight sets by 2017 champion Jelena Ostapenko, but the news was better for compatriot Petra Kvitova who ousted Italian Jasmine Paolini in straight sets.

Pliskova’s exit follows that of 18th seed Angelique Kerber, whose loss to Kaja Juvan in the first round marked her fourth first-round exit at Roland Garros in five years.

In another women’s match that was in progress at the time of this article being written, reigning Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin dropped the first set against Romanian Ana Bogdan.

The third round in both the men’s and women’s draws gets underway this evening (AEST). For the order of play for Day 6, please check out the Roland Garros website.

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